Gloria Blute, the manager of C.M. Almy, with staff, Dannie Phillips and Rachel Tyrrell work on supplies decorative furnishings, apparel and worship-related products to churches and clergy members in Old Greenwich, Conn., Tuesday, August 20, 2013. less

Gloria Blute, the manager of C.M. Almy, with staff, Dannie Phillips and Rachel Tyrrell work on supplies decorative furnishings, apparel and worship-related products to churches and clergy members in Old ... more

The items that make up a church's altar, or a priest's vestments, are storied and sacred to those who attend services. Christian parishioners used to the Sunday rituals of communion or the sight of candles lining an altar likely give little thought to the provenance of those things that are such a familiar part of ecclesiastical life.

CM Almy, outfitters to the church and clergy, is tucked into an elegant, understated storefront in Old Greenwich, supplies some of those items.

The business, founded in 1892 by English tailor Clarence Mortimer Almy in New York, has been in Old Greenwich for nearly 14 years, but people are still surprised to walk by it, tucked next to Beach House Cafe on Sound Beach Avenue.

"Almost every week we have someone walk in and say, `Oh, I didn't know you were here,' " Gloria Blute, showroom manager at CM Almy, said. "Word of mouth gets them in here."

There are two types of customers who typically come into Almy, Blute said: people looking for gifts who browse at the front of the store, and clergy members who walk through to the back showrooms, where rows of long robes are hung near a full-size altar, decorated with cloths and candles. On the shelves are the black and white collars, called "collarettes," worn by the clergy, as well as shiny goblets and collection plates, embroidered stoles worn over clergy robes and jars of communion wafers. The wafers are among the items that are blessed by a priest after purchase before they can be used in an Episcopal or Catholic service, said Dannie Phillips, showroom assistant at CM Almy.

Blessing gift items is a customer's personal choice, Phillips added, but occasionally someone wanting a crucifix or rosary beads blessed will run into a priest shopping for vestments, and the process can be done on the spot.

"We've sometimes become a one-stop shop in that sense," Phillips said.

The Old Greenwich store is the only showroom CM Almy has, but the store deals online with clergy members around the world. Occasionally, one of their international customers will come to the store itself, Blute said, noting that it usually happens in the summer months.

"We've had customers from Africa, Australia, England and Italy," Blute said. "They come in to get fitted (for vestments). While they're here in the U.S., they make sure to stop by."

Though Almy does have its competition in the market of church-related sales, Blute said, there are few other stores in the area that offer the same merchandise.

"That's our first stop whenever we need something clergy-related," Rev. Erin Keys, associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Greenwich, said. "When I began my ministry here (two years ago), it was a pleasant surprise to find them locally."